There is some shade and I personally liked the exhibit. When I saw it the gorillas seemed quite content foraging for food and mothers caring for young. It probably does not compare to the Bronx's Congo Gorilla Forest and is probably not as good as Seattle's Gorilla exhibit, San Diego's Gorilla Tropics, or even Lincoln Park Center for African Apes but it is still nice.
The Bronx Zoo and DAK gorilla exhibits all have lush, thick undergrowth that is left to basically take over the enclosure. In Los Angeles the only foliage is hotwired, and the grass is extremely short and appears to be mowed. I am always amazed at just how wide open the L.A. enclosure is, with little canopy covering and barely any logs or structures for the gorillas to utilize. Someone on ZooChat recently compared it to the "field exhibits" that pop up at zoos like Pittsburgh, and I'd have to say that for the massive amount of money spent ($7.5 million) the gorilla exhibit at the L.A. zoo is a massive disappointment. There is not a lot of space in comparison to excellent gorilla exhibits at DAK, Bronx, San Diego, Lincoln Park, Atlanta, Dallas, Seattle, etc, and not once is there any attempt at creating an African rainforest environment.
